Printing-press gage



E. L. MEGILL.

PRINTING PRESS GAGE.

APPLICATION FILED act. 18. I916.

1,385,637. PatentedJuly26,1921.

, m "mum UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD 1.. MEGILL, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

rRINrIiie-rnnss GAGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 18, 1916. Serial No. 126,293.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. MEGILL, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing,

so that they may be properly presented to the type. I have in mindparticularly the sort of gages in which there s one part that isinserted through a hole or slit in the tympan sheet, and lies below thissheet, and another part connected to the first part when it overlies thetympan sheet, the sheet bein gripped between these two parts. Gages'othis type are usually provided with a tongue which projects through anopenlng in a vertical head member continuous with the part that overliesthe sheet, said tongue member having side walls or extensions engagingthe member that overlies the sheet, and along which the tongue member isslidable. It has been customary to provide stops limiting the slidingmovement of the tongue in the direc tion away from thehead member, andwith such a construction it is obvious that difliculty would beexperienced in case the tongue were broken or in case it were desired toreplace the same by another of different length. Or, if no such stopwere provided'the tongue member might be jslid' too far until'it cameoil, in wh ch event there would be difficulty in putting it back intoposition, and likelihood of injuring the fingers on the exposed end ofthe prong.

Accordingly, one of the objects'of the invention is to provide a gage ofthe kind referred to, including ahead member having a vertical wallprovided with an opening, a prong member extending from said head memberand adapted to be inserted beneath the tympan sheet, an upper pressuremember extendingfrom the head member in the same direction as theprongmember, and a tongue slidable to different positions along the upperpressure member and extending through the aperture in the vertical wallof the head member, said upper pressure memher having a stopportion fornormally lim-v iting the movement of the tongue in one dlrection, andsaid pressure member being constructed to permit of the release of thetongue from the restraint of said stop when it is desired to replace thetongue in case of breakage, or to substitute a tongue of differentlength.

Another object is to provide a construction of tongue which in itselfwill afford elasticity and adjustability in the parts connectlng it withthe upper pressure member of the gage pin, so that it will hold withproper tension to the parts of the upper pressure member to which it isattached, even though these parts should not be ex- Patented July 26,1921.

actly true or regular, thus providing .a

tongue that will be interchangeable from gage pin to gage pin.

Another object isto provide a construction of upper pressure memberincluding two parallel arms connected at one end and yieldable towardeach other at the other end, with the tongue member slidably engagedwith both arms.

A further object is to construct the free ends of the parallel arms withfingerpieces extending at right angles to the plane of the arms, wherebythey may be engaged in the operation of pressing them together for therelease of the tongue; also to so shape the arms that their free endsmay be pressed very close together, notwithstanding that their fixedends are comparatively widely separated.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less broad than thosestated above,

together with the advantages inherent, will be in part obvious and inpart specifically referred to in the courseofthe following descriptionof the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts, and applicationsof principles constituting the invention; and

the scope of protection contemplated will appear from the claim. j v

In the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as part of thisspecification, and in which I have shown a merely preferred form ofembodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a gagepin embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the; tongueportion, detached; Fig. 3 is a top plan vieW of the article shown inFig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line H of Fig. 3; Fig. 5is'a sectional view taken on'the line 55 of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a bottomplan view of the subject-matter of Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is an end view of thesubject-matter of Flg, 3, looking toward the right Fig-8 is a viewsimilar to Fig; 6 but showing the adjustable.

tongue inanother position; Fig. 9 is a view simllarto Fig. 8 showin thetongue in still another position and straint of the stop; and Fig. 10 1sa rear" reed from the reend view of the tongue, detached. g

7 Referring to the numerals on the draw- I ings,=there is shown at 11aprong part having a bentend 12 so that it may be readily insertedthrough the tympan' sheet, making an aperture therein for itself. 'Atits other end .thisprong part 11' is connected to or integral with theusual vertical headportion 14, and zalso connected to or integral'withthis head portion 14 is an upper pressure member comprising two parallelarms 15,

one .oneach side of the prong portion 11,

normally spaced apart. in .a predetermined relationtbut movable towardeach other under pressure. These arms 15 are preferably integraliwithabridge 16 continuous with butat-right angles to the vertical headportionil4, and the arms 15 are joined to this grippedbetween the prongportion 11 and the upper arms 15, frictionally, to hold the gageagainstmovement, the free end of the prong portion 11 extending upwardlytoward:;the arms .115 at an angle,'as shown in Fig.'.5.- When the gageis in thedesired ad justed; position, pressure is applied to thebridge-11.6, to drivepdown-into the tympan sheet, the points 18 whichare formed on the'vertical head member 14.

The tongue member isshown in perspectiveiin Fig. 2 and inv end view inFig. 10;

This {tongue-member comprises atongue 19, oneendgof which; is intendedto be inserted throughan: aperture 20 in the verticalhead memberlgas.indicated inFigs. 1, 3,4, 5, 6,

7 ,8qand QLF-Theother end is provided with a part 21, in llne withthelength of the tongue, and at each end of this part 21 there is aho0kjpart-22,.the junction ofwhichwith the part g21isdefined by asharpbend, for the sake-50f increased. resiliency. When'the V,tonguejs-inposition, with one end projectingthrough the aperture 20, thehooks 22 are supposed to be engagedgover the edges of;

the flat garms' 15: It isjev'ident :that the tongnei mayjnowbe adjustedso as to project; la; greaterj or "less extent through the opening 20,-('c'ompare,Figs3 6, 8 and 9). In orderto:;facilitate this sliding?adjustment of the.tongue theiendthereof, that is the end of the part 21betweenrthe hooks 22, is bent up sharply at rightangles as indicated at24:

to provide a 'fingerpiece. When the tongue I memberispushed toward theleft (referring to Fig. 1) it is evident that its limit of movementinthat direction is fixed by the inclined parts 17, which act as stops;and in order to limit/the movement of'the tongue in the other direction,that is to the right in Fig. 1, the arms 15 are provided with downturned side flanges 25, pastwhich the hooks could not move except forthe fact that on account of the resiliency :of the material'of whichthedevice'is made, particularly the arms15 and their connection to thebridge 16, the free ends of the armsmay-be moved toward each other,through theirjnormal tendencyis to. spring apartv tothe position? shownin Fig.8. It is evident that as the j tongue. member'is slid fromjth'eFig. 8 po sition to. the Fig 9 position,these hooks will exercise 'africtional hold .upon'the arms, 1 thus assuring the retentionofthfeftongue 1n any position to which it may be brought, andcompensating for slight irregularities in size of parts, etc. To remove,thetongue part entirely it is necessary merely to grasp the e 7 ends ofthe arms 15 and exert pressure against the flanges 25 suflicient toforce the free ends of the arms'more closely together.

to such an extent that one or both of the books 22 may be disengagedfrom about the edge portion or portions of the-arm. or-arms' 15 (seeFig. 9), whereupon the hook end of the, tongue may be lifted up and theother end entirely withdrawn from theopening 20 for purposes of repairor replacement or substitution. In replacing, the, tongue end .is firstpushed through 'the opening 20, be

neath the bridge 16,and then the free ends of ;the*arms '15 i arepressedfitogether suiiiciently to allowof the engagement of the V hooks22with the edgesof and underneath thea'rms, whereupon the pressure uponvthe arms 15 is releasedand the edges of the arms snap 1111130 the hooksand hold themselves by friction, as already described, The hooks 22 areso shaped and-so joined'to thepart 2].-

of the tongue thatfthey are given a certain resiliency so that the hookswill accommodate themselves to slightirregularities, for.

instance, in thickness of" arms, or inextent of openings in the hookS,-Orin. regard to the parallelism of the arms; furthermore, the-hooks aremade resilient. Ssee fulliand dotted line .positions of :Fig. 10 tocompen sategfor differences in the spread of the arms 15, that is, thebooks have anelasticgrip q on the arms,d,ue to their own inherent re--siliency. or to the resiliency of the arms, or

ends'of'the arms 15 may be brought as close together as possible, Iprefer to bevel the inneredges of the arms, as indicatedat 26.

It. .will. berunderstoodz of course that the .l 2 5 :to both" factors.And in order that the free' spaces between the arms 15 and the tongueare wider than the length of the turnedunder hooks 22, so that the armsma be pressed together sufliciently to allow 0 the release of the hooks.

The downturned flanges 25 on the outer edges and at the ends of arms 15have the effect of keeping the ends of the arms above and spaced awayfrom the tympan when the device is in use. With prior devices of thiskind, in which the ends of the arms rest on the tympan sheet, the effectwas to produce something very like a shearing action on the tympansheet, especially if the latter were thin, between the edges of the armson the one hand and the edges of the prong on the: other hand.Incidentally, these vertical flanges 25 serve as finger-pieces forcompressing the arms toward each other. If the arms were not providedwith a flange the arms, especially if bent downward at the ends, wouldbe likely to twist in the fingers under pressure, besides giving painand discomfort.

Furthermore, these flanges 25, because of their location, permit of aconsiderable extent of movement of the arms toward each other withoutstriking the prong. And they serve as stops, to prevent the hooks fromsliding off the ends of the arms.

It will be evident that I have provided a construction in which theadjustable-tongue will be held in any adjusted position; from whichthere is no danger of the tongue accidentally slipping off and gettinglost; and from which the tongue may be removed for purposes of repair orreplacement, when desired, without inconvenience and danger of injury tothe fingers.

Inasmuch as many changes could be made in the above construction, andmany apparently widely, different embodiments of my invention could bemade without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the followingclaim is intended to cover all the generic and specific features of theinvention herein described and all statements of the scope of theinvention which, as a matter of language, might be said to falltherebetween.

I claim: 7

In a device of the kind described, a head member having a vertical wallprovided with an opening, a prong member extending from said head memberand adapted to be inserted beneath a tympan sheet, parallel flat armsextending from the head member in the same direction as the prong memberand normally spaced apart in a predetermined relation but movable towardeach other under pressure, and a tongue member slidable above and todiflerent positions along said arms and having turned-under hookportions engaging the edges of and beneath the arms when the arms are intheir normally spaced relation, said arms being movable toward eachother under pressure a sufficient distance to permit of the engagementof the turned-under hooks with the edges and under sides of the arms, orthe release'of the hooks from such engagement, said tongue member beinglocated intermediate the arms and the spaces between the arms and thetonguebeing wider than the length of the hooks, said arms at their freeends having downwardly turned side flanges on their outer edges servingas'finger pieces to move the arms toward each other and also acting asstops to prevent the hooks from sliding off the ends of the arms.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

EDWARD L. ME GILL.

